Fear of a black planet fuelled the campaigns of President George Bush Sr in 1988 and Senator Jesse Helms in 1990 with their infamous ads suggesting that Democrats would sponsor a wholesale release of black rapists from prison, and force the hiring of blacks over whites.
Now, we've got Carl Paladino, who wants to run one of America's most racially-diverse states, caught sending out email images of Barack and Michele Obama, dressed as "pimp" and a "ho", and a plane strafing a group of black men with the caption "Run, niggers, run!" He didn't apologise, though he did admit using "poor judgment". And then, there's Newt Gingrich, who says he's now got Obama figured out: the president isn't merely a lefty Democrat, not merely a union-loving, liberation theology-believing socialist egghead, he's a "Kenyan anti-colonialist".